BYU basketball: Gators felt they contained Jimmer Fredette in NCAA Tournament game

NEW ORLEANS — Great job. Even though the numbers didn't necessarily show it.

In beating BYU 83-74 on Thursday night in the Sweet 16, Florida avenged last year's 99-92 double-overtime loss to the Cougars in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. That game, Jimmer Fredette got 37 for the Cougars. This year, the Gators hounded Fredette into an 11-of-29 shooting night. Most of the time, guard Kenny Boynton was on Fredette — the same player who guarded him last year.

This time, Boynton was recovering from a sprained ankle he suffered last week against UCLA, but showed no sign that he had been hurt.

Fredette still ended up with 32 points.

"I actually thought that Kenny did a terrific job defending him," said Florida coach Billy Donovan.

"I think he did an unbelievable job limiting (Fredette's) open looks. If you look back, pretty much every shot he took was off-balance," said forward Chandler Parsons. "Kenny was right there with him, staying down on him."

Donovan said the game plan was to stop other scorers and do its best to limit Fredette. BYU shot just 35 percent for the game.

"That's what we tried to do," Donovan said. "I was a little bit concerned to start the game because (BYU) obviously got off to a hot start."

Donovan added that Fredette has a bright future.

"There's no question that he has the offensive capability to be a terrific NBA player," the Gators' coach said. "I think his biggest challenge is going to be, when people look at him, is what kind of defensive player he can be. I know he'll work hard at it because he's worked hard at every other part of his game. But I think the biggest question is going to be what kind of effort will he put into really, really defending."

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